Slag-guide car

ABSTRACT

An elongated oven or furnace has a sidewall provided with at least one closable opening for the extraction of slag. A slagremoving carriage is movable along the sidewall and has a slagguide chute having two-spaced parallel walls each composed of a section closer to and a section farther from the sidewall. The sections which are farther from the sidewall extend substantially normal to the latter, as do the other sections when the device is in operative condition, but the sections farther spaced from the sidewall are movable to a position of at least substantial parallelism with the sidewall when desired.

Inventors Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee United States Patent Wilhelm Linnerz Buttgen near Neuss;

Martin Bender, Duesseldorf-Eller, both of Germany Apr. 22, 1970 Nov. 2, 1971 l-Iartung, Kuhn & Co. Maschinenfabrik GmbH Duesseldorf, Germany Int. Cl

ClOb 25/14 [50] FieldotSearch 214/18 R,

3,436,316 4/1969 Lorrek Primary Examiner-Robert G. Sheridan AttorneyMiehael S. Striker ABSTRACT: An elongated oven or furnace has a sidewall provided with at least one closable opening for the extraction of slag. A slag-removing carriage is movable along the sidewall and has a slag-guide chute having two-spaced parallel walls each composed of a section closer to and a section farther from the sidewall. The sections which are farther from the sidewall extend substantially normal to the latter, as do the other sections when the device is in operative condition, but the sections farther spaced from the sidewall are movable to a position of at least substantial parallelism with the sidewall when desired.

sue-cums CAR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to an industrial oven, and more particularly to an installation comprising an industrial oven or furnace and a slag-removing carriage is associated therewith.

In industrial ovens or furnaces of the type which produces slag, it is evidently necessary to remove the slag periodically. For this purpose, it is known to provide a carriage moving along the furnace to the several outlet openings for slag with which such furnaces are conventionally provided. The carriage is provided with a chute which can be placed into registry with the respective opening and through which the hot slag passes to be received in a receptacle which is either provided on the same carriage or on a separate carriage. This slag guide chute must be movable towards and away from the wall of the furnace in which the outlet openings are provided, the reason being that on the one hand it must come as close as possible to the wall to prevent escape of hot slag between the wall and the leading edge of the chute, and on the other hand permit free movement of the carriage along the wall without interference of the chute with the upright supports which are generally provided at the outer side of the wall.

Conventional carriages of this type are so constructed that the slag chute, as it will hereinafter be called for short, is retraced just sufficiently to clear the upright supports at the outer side of the wall as the carriage moves along the latter. However, this has the disadvantage that personnel on a supervising path or catwalk extending along the wall of the furnace cannot pass the carriage if it is necessary to move from one to the other side of the latter. Therefore, such personnel must either climb over the carriage and return to the catwalk on the other side, or climb down from the catwalk, walk around the carriage and climb back up onto the catwalk at the other side of the carriage. Neither possibility is particularly advantageous from the point of view of safety, speed and convenience. Still a further possibility is the one which has found the widest use, namely to form in the opposite walls of the slag chute doors which can be opened to permit a person to pass from one to the other side of the carriage. Unfortunately, the last and most popular solution is also the most dangerous because it is entirely possible and frequently happens that these doors are not properly closed and that personnel attempting to pass through the slag chute or standing exteriorly thereof in the region of the doors, comes in contact with the hot slag with resultant severe bodily injuries.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to avoid the aforementioned disadvantages.

More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a slag-removing carriage which is not possessed of these disadvantages.

ln pursuance of the above objects, and others which will become apparent hereafter, one feature of the invention comprises, briefly stated, an elongated furnace having a sidewall provided with at least one closable opening for the extraction of slag. A slag-removing carriage is movable along the sidewall and comprises slag-guide means adapted to be placed in registry with the opening for extraction of slag therethrough. The slag-guide means comprises, according to the invention, two transversely spaced at least substantially parallel walls each of which is composed of a section closer to and an other section farther from sidewall and all of which extend substantially normal to the sidewall when the carriage is in operative position. The other sections are, however, movable to a position of at least substantial parallelism with the sidewall.

This makes it possible to withdraw the slag chute in the inoperative position of the carriage from the sidewall to such an extent that personnel on the catwalk can readily cross from one side of the carriage to the other without danger and without interference by the slag chute or the slag.

According to a further concept of the invention, it is advantageous to provide a closure removal or lifting device and a closure-frame or closure-seat cleaning device which are mounted on carriages flanking the guide chute and which are movable in parallelism with the axis of the furnace, so that the door or closure removal device and the closure-seat cleaning device can be alternately moved into registry with the opening of the furnace when the chute is retracted. In this manner, an apparatus is provided which in one and the same operating position in which its chute is in alignment with the outlet opening of the furnace although not necessarily advanced into engagement with the sidewall in which the outlet opening is provided, can effect all necessary operating steps which are connected with the removal of slag from the furnace. While one of the various devices, and this includes the slag chute, is retracted an other one can be moved in operating position and because of the relatively small masses to be moved, a very advantageous acceleration condition is obtained so that the various steps to be carried out can be carried through quickly and in a very time saving manner.

It is furthennore advantageous if the portions of the sidewalls constituting the slag-guide chute which are movable into and out of a position of parallelism with the sidewall of the furnace, are each associated with one side of a longitudinally halved dish bottom wall which is elongated in direction normal to the sidewall and each section of which is associated with one of the movable sections. It is also advantageous to provide supporting rollers and guiding rollers on the underside of the movable sections, with one pair of supporting rollers engaging the outer sides of rollers on parallel guide rails, whereas the horizontal guide roller associated with each pair of support rollers engages in the space between the rails.

The movable sections of the slag-gulide chute may be provided at their upper outer side with roller supports and whose underside there are provided horizontal guide rollers which engage in the section of U-profiled guide rails extending substantially along the side of the carriage which faces away from the furnace. The guide rails have end portions adjacent the slag chute and which extend in parallelism with one another and towards the furnace.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a section taken on the line ll-I of FIG. 2 illustrating an embodiment according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top-plan view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates the embodiment of FIG. 2 associated with a closure removal device in operating condition; and

FIG. 4 is a section taken on the line IV-IV of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Discussing now the drawing in detail it will be seen that reference numeral 1 identifies a fragmentarily illustrated furnace 1 whose upright supports 2 flank a horizontal furnace chamber 3 from which slag is to be removed. The furnace chamber 3 is provided in known manner at opposite sides with openings, of which only the opening 4 is illustrated for which slag is to be removed. A door or closure: 5 with the element 50 is provided for closing the opening 4 and is removable from the latter. A catwalk 6 extends along the sidewall of the furnace l and a pair of rails is mounted on the catwalk.

A carriage 10 mounted on a chassis 9 is movable along the rail 7 by means of wheels 8 in a direction normal to the axis of the furnace chamber 3. It will be appreciated that ordinarily a furnace of this type is provided with several such furnace chambers which are to be serviced by the carriage 10. The invention is however applicable regardless of the number of such chambers.

A carriage 11 is movable along the sidewall of the furnace l outwardly of the catwalk 6 and in parallelism with the carriage 10 from which it receives the extracted slag through the slagguide chute I2. The latter is composed of supporting profiles 13 to which there are secured horizontally extending U- shaped elements 14 which constitute sidewalls l and 16. These are transversely spaced in parallelism or at least substantial parallelism and extend upwardly from the longitudinal edges of a dished bottom wall 17.

According to the present invention, the portions 15a and 16a which are closer to the sidewall of the furnace l are connected with a portion 170 of the dished bottom wall 17 and can be moved only in parallelism with the axis of the furnace chamber 3. For this purpose, guide rollers 19 engage in the U- shaped profile of horizontal guide rails 18 which extend with spacing in parallelism on the chassis 9. The guide rollers are provided at both sides of an element 20 at the lower side of the portion 17a.

The upper ends of sections 15a and 16a are guided in guide rails 22 by means of pairs of guide rollers 21. Reference numerals 23 and 24 identify the rear end positions of the guide rollers 19 and 21 in the guide rails 18 and 22 which correspond to the rest position of the chute when the same is retracted from the furnace I.

As FIG. 1 shows, the rear guide rails 18 extend over substantially the entire width of the carriage 10, whereas the front end of the upper rail 22 facing the furnace I is spaced from the latter by a distance corresponding to approximately half the width of the carriage so that the rear end positions of the guide rollers I9 and 21 are correspondingly offset. As is clearly shown in the drawing, vertically aligned pivots 25 and 26 connect the sidewall portions or sections 150, 16a with corresponding sidewall portions b and 16b which are farther spaced from the furnace 1. In the cross sectional plane in which the pivots are located, the bottom wall 17 is separated so that the front wall portion 170 extends over the same length as the sidewall sections l5a and 16a. The separate rear portion of the bottom wall 17 is longitudinally severed to constitute two longitudinally extending bottom wall sections 17b and 170 whose length is the same as that of the rear sidewall sections 15b and 16b and which are pivotable together with the same from a position in parallelism with the axis of the furnace chamber 3 to positions which are inclined with reference to this axis, that is which are in at least substantial parallelism therewith.

Reference numeral 13a identifies reinforcing elements for this sidewall sections 15b and 16b. These reinforcing sections 13a are provided at the top with the elements 27 and 28 mounting guide rollers 29 and 30, each of which engages the interior of a downwardly open U-shaped guide rail 31 and 32, respectively. These rails extend in substantial parallelism with the direction of movement of the carriage 10, but their ends which are adjacent to one another are bent so as to extend towards the furnace I and are in parallelism as illustrated. In FIG. 2, the end positions of the guide rollers 29 and 30 are associated with the advanced operating position of the chute.

Pairs of supporting rollers 35 are provided at the lower ends of the reinforcing profiles or elements 13a. Arranged below these reinforcing rollers 35, is a horizontal guide roller 36 connected with the respective reinforcing profile 13 and extending into the space between two guide rails, one of which is illustrated in FIG. 1 and identified with reference numeral 37. These guide rails are provided at the upper side with a ridge 374 on which the supporting rollers 35 are supported and the path which they define for movement of the rollers 35 and 36 of course corresponds to that which is to be traversed by the rollers 29 and 30 and the rails 31 and 32.

The drawing shows that the front edge of the chute in its retracted rest position shown in FIG. 3 exposes the space outside the opening communicating with the chamber 3 for approximately half the width of the carriage 10 so that personnel can freely without being endangered pass from one side of the carriage 10 to the other on the catwalk 6.

In FIG. 1, there is shown in broken lines a rack 38 which is rigid with the portion 17a and constitute a part of the motiontransmitting means for effecting the to and from motion of the chute. It cooperates with a pinion 39 which is rotated in suitable manner by a nonillustrated drive via a nonillustrated, wellknown interposed gearing. The drive may also be in form of a hydraulic cylinder if desired.

As already pointed out, when the chute is retracted, it provides significant unobstructed space in front of the opening to the chamber 3. This makes it possible to provide on one side of the chute a door-removal device 40 for removing and putting in place the door of the respective chambers, and at the other side of the chute a door frame or a door-seating device 41. The arrangement is such that both of these devices can alternately be put into operation without having to move the carriage 10 out of its position in which the chute is aligned with the opening communicating with the chamber 3. For this purpose, each of the devices 40 and 41 is movable in parallelism with the longitudinal axis of the chamber 3 on the carriage, and can be pivoted between a rest position shown in FIG. 2 and an operating position which is shown for the device 40 in FIG. 3.

The operation of the device 40 will now be described in more detail. It comprises a carriage 42 which is movable on two U-shaped rails 44 by means of the pair of rollers 43. The rails 44 are arranged for spacing in parallelism from one another and constitute a part of the chassis 9. Guide rollers 45 (shown in FIGS. 3 and 4) extend into the spacing between the rails 44. A single guide roller 46 is horizontally arranged at the upper side and engages in a space between two guide rails 47 which extend in parallelism with the axis of the chamber 3.

A door removal device 49 is pivotally mounted on the carriage 42 about two vertically aligned axes 48. At its outer side, it is provided with hooks 50 which can be operated by a nonillustrated cylinder and engage below ridges 51 on a door 5 in order to engage the latter and move it to a door cleaning device 52, which is shown in FIG. 2.

The device 52 itself is movable in known and nonillustrated I manner in parallelism with the direction of movement of the carriage 10, so that scrubbers, scrapers or the like which are mounted on chains, can contact and clean the contact surfaces of the door where the same is seated on the door frame. The position of the device 40 is shown in broken lines in FIG. 3 and the operating position of the am 49 is shown in full lines.

The device 41 also comprises a carriage, which is identified with reference numeral 53, and mounted (compare FIGS. I and 4) via supporting roller pairs 54 on flanges of two supporting rails 55. Guide rollers 56 extend into the space between the parallel rails which constitute a part of the chassis 9. Guide rollers 57 are provided at the upper side of the carriage 53 and guide the latter between two guide rails 58 which are arranged in parallelism but spaced from one another and extend in the same manner as guide rails 47 between horizontally extending double T-shaped beams 59 of the carriage 10. This is shown in FIG. 1.

A door-frame or door-seat cleaning am 60 of substantially L-shaped outline is pivotally mounted on the carriage 53 for movement about two vertically aligned axes 61. Guide means for moving the arm 60 are known and are not illustrated. Conventionally hydraulic cylinders are used for this purpose.

The drive for the to and from movement of the carriage 53 is identical with that for the carriage 42 and will be described hereafter, it being intended that this description be understood to apply also to the drive for the carriage 42. A cylinder 62 is provided which is articulately connected with a vertical support 69 of the carriage 10. The piston rod 63 of the cylinder 62 operates upon an angle of lever 64 which is pivotable about a pivot 65 and is articulately connected with its free arm at lever 66 to a lever 67 which engages at a pivot point 68 of the carriage 53.

The drawing shows clearly that the door frame-cleaning device 31 can be moved to its operating position after the arm 60 has been moved to the operating position in which it extends towards the frame or door seat of the open furnace chamber 3. Pivoting movement of the arm 60 can be effected in known manner by double-acting hydraulic cylinders which are not illustrated because they form no part of the present invention and would render the drawing less clear.

In operation of the deice heretofore described, the carriage is moved to a predetermined operating position in which it is located oppositely the opening of a furnace chamber 3. At this time, the slag guide chute 12 is in the rest position shown in FIG. 3, whereas the door-lifting am 49 is already in the operating position which is also shown in FIG. 3. A carriage 42 is now advanced to its active position by the cylinder 62, and the members 50 engage the ridges 51 and slightly lift the latter. The carriage 42 is then retracted by means of the cylinder 62 to such an extent that the door 5 with the portion 5a can clear the supports 2 and be pivoted horizontally through 90 to the position which is shown in FIG. 3 in broken lines. At the same time the door-cleaning device 52 is moved against the door 5 so that the latter can be cleaned.

As this takes place, the chute 12 is moved towards the opening 4 of the furnace chamber 3 and slag is pressed out through the opening 4 in conventional manner-that is by means of a nonillustrated ram of a device provided for this purpose-and into the chute 12 through which it passes to become accommodated in the receptacle 1].

Now the arm 60 is moved from the rest position shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 through 90 horizontally into the operating position, and the carriage 53 is advanced to the extent requisite for the door seat elements, such as scrapper chains or the like, to engage the seating surfaces on the door frame and to clean the same. The cleaning operation of such devices is of course known. When it is completed, the arm 41 is pivoted back to its rest position as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, and the carriage 53 with the device is retracted. At this time, the door-cleaning device 52 has again returned to its rest position as shown in FIG. 2 so that the door-lifting arm 49 can pivot the nowcleaned door 50 through 90 into registry with the opening 4 of the chamber 3.

To, return the door 5 to the opening 4, the carriage 42 is advanced in the direction towards the furnace l and the door 5 placed into the opening 4 which is then tightly closed. Now the carriage 42 is retracted to its rest position and the arm 49 is also'moved to its inoperative position.

It will be appreciated that if no personnel is on the catwalk, the arm 49 may remain in the operating position if desired. It will be further appreciated that if personnel is in fact on the catwalk and has to pass from one side to the other of the carriage I0, and if the apparatus is operated in the manner just outlined, the movement of the personnel can be carried out without inconvenience and without danger of injury.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together, may also find a useful application in other types of constructions differing from the types described above.

While the inventionhasbeen illustrated and described as embodied in an industrial oven, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist of the present invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adapt it for various applications without omitting features that, from the standpoint of prior bination, an elongated furnace having a sidewall provided with at least one closable opening for the extraction of slag; and a slag-removing carriage movable along; said sidewall and comprising slag-guide means adapted to be placed in registry with said opening for extraction of slag therethrough, said slagguide means comprising two tranversely spaced at least substantially parallel walls each of which is composed of a section closer to and an other section farther from said sidewall and all of which extend substantially nonnal to said sidewall when said carriage is in operative position, said other section being movable to a position of at least substantial parallelism with said sidewall.

2. In an arrangement as defined in claim 1; further comprising a removable closure for normally closing said opening in engagement with a seat bounding the same; a closure removing device mounted on said carriage at one side of said slagguide means and a seat-cleaning device mounted on said carriage at the other side of said slag-guide means, said devices being alternately registrable with said opening.

3. In an arrangement as defined in claim 2, said carriage being movable in parallelism with said sidewall.

4. In an arrangement as defined in claim I, said slag-guide means further comprising a dished bottom wall having a first and a second bottom wall section each extending substantially normal to said sidewall when said carriage is in operation, each of said bottom wall sections being connected for movement with one of said other sections.

5. In an arrangement as defined in claim 4, said bottom wall sections and said other sections being of substantially identical length.

6. In an arrangement as defined in claim 1, said other sections having lower edge regions provided with support rollers and guide rollers; further comprising a pair of horizontal parallel guide rails having outer sides facing away from one another; and wherein said support rollers engage said outer sides and said guide rollers extend into and are guided in the space between said guide rails.

7. In an arrangement as defined in claim 6, each of said other sections comprising two of said support rollers and one of said guide rollers.

8. In an arrangement as defined in claim I, said other sec tions having upper edge regions provided with guides at their respective outer sides; further comprising U-profiled rails extending on said carriage in substantial parallelism with said sidewall at a side of said carriage which is furthest spaced from said sidewall, said U-profiled rails having respective end portions adjacent said other sections and extending in direction towards said sidewall; and engaging rollers on said upper edge regions and extending into engagement with said rails for guidance by the same.

9. In an arrangement as defined in claim 8, said engaging rollers being mounted for turning movement about respective horizontal axes.

10. In an arrangement as defined in claim 1, said slag-guide means being movable in direction toward and away from said sidewall between a rest position and an operative position. 

1. In an arrangement of the character described, in combination, an elongated furnace having a sidewall provided with at least one closable opening for the extraction of slag; and a slag-removing carriage movable along said sidewall and comprising slag-guide means adapted to be placed in registry with said opening for extraction of slag therethrough, said slag-guide means comprising two tranversely spaced at least substantially parallel walls each of which is composed of a section closer to and an other section farther from said sidewall and all of which extend substantially normal to said sidewall when said carriage is in operative position, said other section being movable to a position of at least substantial parallelism with said sidewall.
 2. In an arrangement as defined in claim 1; further comprising a removable closure for normally closing said opening in engagement with a seat bounding the same; a closure removing device mounted on said carriage at one side of said slag-guide means and a seat-cleaning device mounted on said carriage at the other side of said slag-guide means, said devices being alternately registrable with said opening.
 3. In an arrangement as defined in claim 2, said carriage being movable in parallelism with said sidewall.
 4. In an arrangement as defined in claim 1, said slag-guide means further comprising a dished bottom wall having a first and a second bottom wall section each extending substantially normal to said sidewall when said carriage is in operation, each of said bottom wall sections being connected for movement with one of said other sections.
 5. In an arrangement as defined in claim 4, said bottom wall sEctions and said other sections being of substantially identical length.
 6. In an arrangement as defined in claim 1, said other sections having lower edge regions provided with support rollers and guide rollers; further comprising a pair of horizontal parallel guide rails having outer sides facing away from one another; and wherein said support rollers engage said outer sides and said guide rollers extend into and are guided in the space between said guide rails.
 7. In an arrangement as defined in claim 6, each of said other sections comprising two of said support rollers and one of said guide rollers.
 8. In an arrangement as defined in claim 1, said other sections having upper edge regions provided with guides at their respective outer sides; further comprising U-profiled rails extending on said carriage in substantial parallelism with said sidewall at a side of said carriage which is furthest spaced from said sidewall, said U-profiled rails having respective end portions adjacent said other sections and extending in direction towards said sidewall; and engaging rollers on said upper edge regions and extending into engagement with said rails for guidance by the same.
 9. In an arrangement as defined in claim 8, said engaging rollers being mounted for turning movement about respective horizontal axes.
 10. In an arrangement as defined in claim 1, said slag-guide means being movable in direction toward and away from said sidewall between a rest position and an operative position. 